Saturday, December 14, 2013

The Void.


The very idea of the void differs much between the Western and the Eastern culture. In the West, the metaphysical nothingness is usually understood as something negative, essentially perceived as emptiness, linked to existential loneliness, while in the East, the void is an extremely positive principle, perceived as something which exists in each of us and in order to achieve transformation, a radical change, one must first achieve this emptiness.


The Void on Behance

Russian artistic collective TUNDRA tried to visualize the idea of emptiness but not the emptiness as the absence of everything, but the emptiness closer to the Eastern doctrine, as the initial state when anything can appear.

The Void on Behance

TUNDRA's void consists of a 360 degree vortex-like projection of graphic patterns and sounds but the trick is that when one enters this room, he must be completely still and relaxed because any sort of movement or sound interrupts the sequence and stops it. So the installation actually tests today's people ability to stay calm, to free themselves from everything, to feel the emptiness and thus be ready for a change.





To whomever emptiness is possible, All things are possible.”  
Nagarjuna, III A.D.